ROGER KOSKELA | Spirituality Gaining; How About Religion?

There’s seemingly an increasing interest these days in spirituality, especially among those who are younger rather than older.

In contrast, the focus on religion is apparently somewhat on the wane.

The latest Pew Religious Landscape survey says that “More than one-quarter of American adults (28 percent) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion — or no religion at all.”

At the same time, bolstered by events like Oprah’s recent highly watched webinar, “Spirituality 101” with author and spiritual guru Eckhart Tolle, the appreciation of spirituality has come more to the forefront.

Most religions traditionally have regarded spirituality as an integral part of the religious experience.

“Spirituality should be at the center of one’s religion. However, in some cases, spirituality may be offered as a justification to avoid participation in a church or denomination,” he observes.

“In reality, if one is truly spiritual, then he or she should have no problem with religion. And if one is truly religious, he or she should embrace spirituality,” Jukam expressed.

In recent years the distinctions between spirituality and religion have taken on nuance. To illustrate, a wide-reaching 2008 Search Institute survey spanning 17 countries and six continents revealed that aged 12 to 25 participants said that they were “both spiritual and religious” (34 percent).

But 23 percent of those surveyed indicated that they were “spiritual” but “not religious.”

When participants were asked “what it primarily means to them to be spiritual,” United States respondents said it meant “believing there is a purpose to life” (41 percent) and “believing in God” (33 percent).

A publication by David J. Hufford, Ph.D., for the Templeton Advanced Research Program which “supports innovative scientific studies on religion and spirituality” defines religion as “an organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols designed (a) to facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent (God, higher power, or ultimate truth/reality) and (b) to foster an understanding of one’s relationship and responsibility to others living together in a community.”

Spirituality, according to Hufford, is “the personal quest for understanding answers to ultimate questions about life, about meaning and about relationship to the sacred or transcendent, which may (or may not) lead to or arise from the development of religious rituals and the formation of community.”

I asked another leading Lutheran clergyman — my current pastor — for his thoughts.

The Rev. James N. McEachren, pastor of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Bellevue has somewhat of a parallel view.

“Religion comes from a word meaning ‘to bind back.’ So religion is a way to ‘name’ something that keeps us civil — like the social contract in any nation or community.

“Spirituality is that which drives us from within or without — with spirit or institution defining for us — to allow us to get at the three big questions of life: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?”

According to some, surveys like the Pew and Search Institute are indicating that this quest for meaning to life appears to be at the root of many young folks’ desire for spirituality. But at the same time they apparently don’t want all the baggage of organized religion.

“The number of people who self-identify using the long-popular phrase ‘spiritual but not religious’ is still growing. In 1998, 9 percent of American adults told the General Social Survey they were spiritual but not religious. By 2008, it had risen to 14 percent. Among those ages 18 to 39, the increase was even more dramatic, and 18 percent now say they are spiritual but not religious.”

She notes an explanation by Duke University professor of sociology, religion and divinity, Mark Chaves, who says, “The growth is not because people are less likely to identify as religious, but because nonreligious people are more likely to say they are spiritual.”